Sew Bright Blog

The latest edition of Down Under Textiles arrived today. The magazine is full of interesting projects including transfer painting, making beaded buttons, stick weaving and using cold wax as a resist to name a few. There are also interviews with textile artists Dale Rollerson and Sharyn Hall. Plus heaps more. The magazine is $9.95 plus postage $2.50. Contact me to purchase your copy.

The new design from Mackenna Ryan has been in stock about a month now and is selling well. Apart from the quilt, I have started making the roosters and chicks into the individual art quilts. The first one finished is “Struttin”

I have managed to get Leanne our local framer from ‘The Picture Framing Shed’ to custom make the stretcher frames. They are 8″ square which is an odd size for canvases. They can be purchased in sets of 9 for $49.50 or $6 each.

There are still some kits available for the quilt. The kit is $274.35 and includes all the fabric and the patterns for the 4 roosters and the pattern for the quilt. The quilt is pictured on the front page of the website.

When this fabric arrived, I was on my way to Sydney so I couldn’t make anything straight away. My friend Carolyn liked the fabric, bought some and made this quilt. She has lent it to me to display in the shop. I did get a chance to make another Bella bag over Easter, from the same fabric. It’s just gorgeous!! I have already had to order more of a couple of the designs, they should arrive this week.

Bella Bag made with Giselle fabrics

Whilst in Sydney, this georgeous fabric was delivered to our hotel,we couldn’t wait to show it off, so we cut some up and pinned it up on the stand. It is called ‘Viviana’ by Lonni Rossi. It looked spectacular on the stand and started selling straight away. It is now in the front window of the shop and is selling well. I am about to start making something with it. Haven’t quite decided what it will end up, but that is half the fun of designing.

 

Having arrived back from Sydney earlier this week, I thought it was time to show you some photos. We had a great time at the Craft Expo and met lots of interesting people. The stand looked amazing and was very well received. My friend Jan from the Gold Coast came with me and was a great help, I couldn’t have done it without her.

On  the Sunday, the Today show weather was broadcast from the Expo. Felicity Whelan the weather presenter was fantastic, she did each cross in a different location. One of the locations was the Bernina Sewing Room, where the girls there had taken a pair of jeans and cut them off and turned them into a skirt. The material they used was purchased from my stand, so I waited until the cross was finished and asked ‘Flick’ if she would have her photo taken with me.  she was really nice and interested in lots of different crafts.

The last cross she did was at the Quilt Boot Camp where we were sitting making blocks for quilts to be sent to the victims of the earthquake in Haiti. When we watched it back you could just see Jan & I in the background, that is if you knew we were there!! Anyway we have a great time. Thanks to all those who visited the stand and made purchases. I hope to hear from some of you in the future. 

 

Here is a photo of my latest pattern. It is called Zinnia Cushion and is made using the Flight of Fancy fabric range from Paula Prass for Michael Miller. It is a fun and whimsical designed oversized cushion, perfect for the bedroom or loungeroom. The pattern will be available for the first time at the Craft Expo in Sydney next week from March 11 -14 at The Dome in Olympic Park, Homebush. I am very excited about attending my first show as an exhibitor. I will have all of my patterns and kits available along with stacks of fabrics and other patterns usually available in the shop.

I finally finished the sample of ‘Willow’. This georgeous cushion was designed by Kellie of Don’t Look Now. I love free motion quilting and haven’t done any on my Bernina for a while as I normally do the larger quilts on the quilting frame. I decided to do this pattern as a class and therefore wanted to make a sample as per Kellie’s instructions. I must say it all came together fantastically. I even bought a pair of the rubber gloves Kellie suggests and thoroughly recommend them to anyone who is doing free motion. I’m not sure why, but wearing the gloves and the grip they give makes you relax your shoulders and helps to create smoother quilting. I was so excited to finish outlining all my shapes, that I trimmed the cushion top before noticing that I hadn’t quilted the background. Oh well!That will teach me for not reading the pattern properly. I think it looks fantastic anyway! Anyone who wants to do this project as a class, just let me know and I will schedule you in.

Kellie also has an offer on at the moment for anyone who purchases any of her patterns from her distributors. Just come in and purchase a pattern, email your receipt to Kellie and she will put you in the draw to win a free pattern of her “Thankyou Cushion”.

 

We had Linda Tucker from Country Dyeworks here on the 21st January for a hand dyed fabric workshop. The ladies who attended had a great time, most dyed around 12m of fabric. We all did a rainbow of 21 colours and a couple of short colour runs. Linda will come back in October as a part of ‘Stitch & Quilt in Bright” to tutor a class called “Strip tease” which is based on the Ricky Tims Harmonic convergance method.